Home entertainment systems employ multiple devices throughout the home that are networked with each other in a home network. For example, a proposed standard known as the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) envisions up to twelve devices sharing content with each other in a home network.
As understood herein, each device may have its own digital rights management (DRM) scheme executed by a controller, typically a processor of the device programmed to adhere to various rules related to content copying, content play, etc. Licenses for each DRM scheme can be bound to content provided to the respective device in a data “container” by a Digital Service Provider (DSP) before delivery. In some cases, licenses can be requested and bound to the content on an as-needed-basis.
In any case, as recognized herein, owing to the several devices in a home system, files of essentially the same content can proliferate in the home system but file with its own unique license attached to it. As further recognized herein, this complicates archiving within the home a single file with all the requisite licenses attached. In other words, because many people copy music or movies to devices temporarily as it is being consumed, and because these files later may be erased with a master copy preserved in a master repository, present principles understand that unless the licenses can be centralized in a single file, when the content subsequently is played, the device attempting to play it may not possess the requisite license and the content consequently will not play.